The  Psychological  and  Pedagogical 
Aspect  of  Language. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  AND  PEDAGOGICAL  ASPECT 
OF  LANGUAGE. 


By  Margaret  Keiver  Smith. 


The  term  language  refers  especially  to  the  system  of  articu¬ 
late  sounds  made  by  the  human  voice  primarily  with  a  view  to 
communication  between  human  beings.  While  it  is  indispen¬ 
sable  to  the  mental  development  of  every  human  being,  it  is 
not  the  product  of  any  one  mind,  but  of  minds  laboring  under 
the  necessity  of  intercourse  with  one  another. 

With  the  purpose  of  intercourse  in  mind,  we  associate  the 
idea  of  voluntary  effort  with  human  speech.  Probably  for  this 
reason,  notwithstanding  its  mechanical  side,  human  speech  is 
very  generally  regarded  as  a  mental  operation,  skill  in  the  ex¬ 
ercise  of  which  seems  to  indicate  a  considerable  degree  of  men¬ 
tal  development. 

Through  a  comparison  of  persons  who  have  a  limited  control 
with  those  who  have  an  extended  control  of  language,  and 
especially  through  a  comparison  of  the  mental  power  of  a  deaf 
mute  who  has  not  achieved  the  use  of  language  with  the  men¬ 
tal  power  of  one  who  has  learned  to  speak  and  write,  we  are 
justified  in  assuming  that  in  the  intellectual  development  of  the 
human  being,  language  performs  a  very  important  part.  From 
such  observations  as  have  been  made,  we  judge  that  the  deaf 
mute,  without  the  advantage  of  language,  has  a  mental  content 
of  images  and  feelings  alone,  and  that  only  through  these  states 
can  an  appeal  reach  him.  His  power  of  reflection  is  as  limited 
as  his  power  of  abstraction.  His  physical  desires  are  strong, 
and  his  power  of  self-control  very  weak,  while  his  ethical  sense 
remains  entirely  undeveloped.  Romanes  states  that  he  has 
never  been  able  to  find  a  case  where  a  deaf  mute  without  edu¬ 
cation  in  language,  and,  indeed  in  word  language,  has  been 
able  to  acquire  any  idea  of  supernaturalism.  Even  with  the 
best  aid  of  sign-making,  i.  e.,  gestures,  he  has  been  unable 
to  acquire  any  idea  of  a  divine  being. 

The  importance  of  language  in  connection  with  mental  de¬ 
velopment  may  be  perceived  in  the  lower  animals  quite  as 
readily  as  in  the  human  being.  The  excess  of  intelligent  at¬ 
tention  and  memory  in  the  domestic  animals  as  compared  with 
the  same  qualities  in  wTild  animals  may  very  well  be  attributed 
in  great  part  to  the  language  of  human  beings  to  which  the 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


439 


a 


former  in  the  course  of  ages  have  become  accustomed.  It  is  a 
noteworthy  fact  that  in  the  training  of  domestic  animals,  much 
0  more  dependence  is  placed  upon  the  use  of  words  than  in  the 
training  of  wild  animals.  The  stories  that  we  have  of  the  dog 
and  the  horse,  not  to  mention  those  of  the  elephant,  or  even  of 
the  bird  family,  lead  us  to  infer  that  those  animals  not  only 
understand  words  and  sentences,  but  that  they  actually  show 
signs  of  at  least  primitive  judgments.  The  adaptability  of 
domestic  animals  to  new  conditions,  and  even  to  modern  inven¬ 
tions,  may  justify  us  in  supposing  that  the  language  of  ages  has 
brought  them  into  a  close  resemblance  to  the  human  animal, 
and  that  their  generalizations  differ  in  degree  rather  than  in 
kind  from  those  of  man.  As  a  rule  we  do  not  assume  that  even 
the  most  intelligent  domestic  animals  surpass  even  the  lowest 
of  the  human  family,  but  we  not  infrequently  hear  the  owner 
of  a  dog  or  horse  proudly  assert  that  the  creature  possesses 
more  real  knowledge  than  many  a  man  of  his  acquaintance. 

Through  derived  uses,  the  application  of  the  term  language 
has  become  so  extended  that  it  stands  for  any  and  all  means  of 
communication  that  are  in  any  degree  systematized. 

Thus,  in  addition  to  the  language  of  speech,  we  have  gesture 
language,  and  tone  language,  the  one  indicating  a  system  of 
regulated  bodily  movements,  the  other  working  out  into  a 
system  of  sounds  developed  from  the  tones  of  the  primitive 
human  voice. 

Both  gesture  and  tone  language  are  designed  for  purposes  of 
communication,  and  are  adapted  probably  from  the  crude  mo¬ 
tions  and  harsh  cries  of  primitive  man  (possibly  even  of  the 
brutes)  in  his  efforts  to  attract  other  creatures  of  his  kind. 

As  a  means  of  emotional  expression,  both  gesture  and  tone 
&c'  serve  much  better  than  as  a  means  of  intellectual  expression. 

Among  gestures  we  have  those  that  indicate  states  of  feeling 
*  merely  as  pleasant  or  unpleasant,  and  gestures  that  indicate 
^5  such  emotions  as  fear,  anger,  love,  pride,  etc. 

In  the  second  stage  we  have  modulated  movements  intended 
>  to  express  definite  mental  states,  e.  g.,  the  nod  of  affirmation, 
;  or  approval,  the  shake  of  the  head  implying  negation,  or  dis- 
j  approval,  the  wave  of  the  hand  in  invitation,  and  the  wave  of 
^  the  hand  in  repulsion. 

H  Among  tones  we  have  those  that  express  emotional  states, 
as  the  inarticulate  murmur  of  affection,  the  growth  of  rage, 
the  whine  of  fear,  etc. 

The  second  step  in  tone  language  is  toward  articulate  speech, 
as  the  instinctive  babble  and  chatter  of  the  child  as  it  imitates 
sounds.  Something  of  the  same  tendency  may  be  observed  in 
the  chatter  of  the  parrot,  mocking  bird,  etc.  Possibly  this  step 
may  not  be  regarded  as  a  step  in  language,  inasmuch  as  the 


440 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


purpose  of  communication  is  not  so  much  in  evidence  as  in  the 
first  step.  It  seems  more  properly  to  be  a  mechanical  prepara¬ 
tion  for  articulate  language  which  is  to  come  later. 

As  in  the  case  of  gestures,  in  connection  with  articulate 
speech,  tones  are  used  in  modulated  and  regulated  forms  for 
the  purpose  of  enhancing  the  effect  of  words  which,  if  used 
alone,  would  merely  arouse  intellectual  states.  The  effective¬ 
ness  of  tone  and  gesture  lies  in  their  use  as  an  outlet  for  the 
emotions,  and  as  a  means  of  arousing  corresponding  emotional 
states  in  those  who  are  subjected  to  their  influence. 

The  inadequacy  of  these  so-called  languages  lies  in  the  im¬ 
possibility  of  their  expressing  many  definite  or  complicated 
ideas  and  connected  thoughts.  They  are  both  bound  to  sense- 
perception,  and  for  the  most  part  are  very  clumsy  instruments 
in  securing  generalizations  of  any  high  degree  of  abstraction. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  elaboration  of  gesture  and  tone  into  any 
extended  system  of  expression  is  mainly  due  to  the  use  of 
words.  No  people  without  a  well-developed  system  of  articu¬ 
late  language  has  ever  done  much  with  the  drama  or  with 
music.  The  highest  use  of  gesture  and  tone  can  only  be  real¬ 
ized  when  they  occupy  a  subordinate  position,  viz.,  that  of 
supporting  and  emphasizing  the  spoken  word.  The  skillful 
speaker  realizes  their  value  when  he  wishes  to  gain  a  hearer 
whom  he  cannot  convince  by  reason. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  all  forms  of  spoken  language  is 
that  of  connecting  an  idea  in  the  mind  of  one  individual 
with  some  external  sign  which  is  intelligible  to  another  indi¬ 
vidual.  This  sign  becomes  intelligible  when  it  is  attached  to 
similar  ideas  in  the  minds  of  the  two  individuals.  For  pur¬ 
poses  of  general  comprehension,  this  sign  must  be  constant. 
With  this  sign  as  a  basis,  a  system  of  expression  may  be 
arranged  by  means  of  which  mental  states  are  not  only  indi¬ 
cated,  but  by  means  of  which  thought  is  formed,  defined,  elab¬ 
orated,  and  transformed  into  the  force  that  moves  the  world. 

Apart  from  the  convenience  of  a  means  of  communication,  a 
system  of  expression  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  indi¬ 
vidual,  in  that  it  is  a  means  of  bringing  order,  clearness,  and 
purpose  out  of  a  chaos  of  mental  content.  Without  a  system 
of  expression,  the  mind  must  remain  confused,  indeterminate, 
characterless,  and  ineffective.  A  writer  has  said  that  next  to 
the  hope  of  immortality,  expression  is  the  highest  hope  of  the 
human  spirit.  Perhaps  with  equal  truth  we  may  say  that 
without  power  of  expression,  the  hope  of  immortality  could 
never  have  been  conceived. 

While  admitting  tone  and  gesture  to  be  legitimate  and  nec¬ 
essary  means  of  expression  in  primitive  stages  of  development, 
we  must  also  admit  that  for  the  development  of  civilization,  a 


ASPECT  OF  EANGUAGE. 


441 


more  highly  specialized  means  of  expression  is  necessary.  This 
demand  seems  to  be  met  by  articulate  language.  As  the  sign  of 
an  idea,  the  spoken  word  is  constant,  while  at  the  same  time  it 
admits  of  modification  and  elaboration  sufficient  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  highest  intellectual  development.  Because  it  is 
the  instrument  best  adapted  to  this  use,  the  word  has  become 
the  preferred  means  of  communication.  In  every  way,  the  use 
of  the  word  is  economical.  Being  the  most  conventional  sign  of 
expression,  it  is  the  least  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  is  purer  and  more  definite,  more  condensed, 
and  more  effective  than  any  other  sign. 

Romanes  gives  four  divisions  of  articulate  language.  First, 
the  meaningless  imitation  of  sounds  heard;  second,  the  in¬ 
stinctive  articulation  of  syllables;  third,  the  understanding  of 
articulate  sounds  or  words ;  and  fourth,  the  intentional  use  of 
words  as  signs  or  names  of  ideas,  i.  e . ,  the  use  of  words  with  a 
meaning  attached.1 

Corresponding  to  the  articulate  side  of  language  he  gives 
the  intellectual  aspect  in  five  stages2  viz. ,  first,  the  indicative 
stage,  in  which  there  is  an  intentional  sign  though  it  may  be 
expressed  by  gesture,  tone,  or  word;  second,  the  denotative 
stage  in  which  intentional  marks  are  indicated  by  names.  The 
name  in  this  stage  is  reproduced  merely  by  mechanical  or 
special  association.  Tike  the  first  this  stage  is  peculiar  to 
many  of  the  lower  animals  as  well  as  to  human  beings,  and 
marks  no  great  intellectual  advance.  The  name  is  in  this 
stage  merely  a  mechanical  convenience. 

The  third,  or  connotative  stage  is  that  in  which  a  name  is 
given  to  an  object  by  reason  of  some  quality  or  qualities  which 
it  possesses.  The  word  contains  a  meaning,  of  which  the 
application  is  extended  to  other  objects  possessing  characteris¬ 
tics  in  common  with  the  first,  so  that  a  grouping  is  made,  and 
the  word  becomes  the  name  of  a  class.  This  is  the  concept 
forming  stage,  or  possibly  the  stage  of  classifying  and  naming 
perhaps  without  a  full  consciousness  of  the  extension  of  the 
application  of  the  word.  This  stage  probably  marks  the  divid¬ 
ing  line  between  the  human  being  and  the  lower  animal,  as 
the  grouping  of  objects  on  the  basis  of  common  characteristics 
implies  a  higher  intellectual  power  than  we  have  as  yet  observed 
in  brutes. 

The  fourth  or  denominational  stage  is  an  extension  and  elab¬ 
oration  of  the  third,  the  connotative  word  being  now  applied 
consciously  and  intentionally.  The  last  stages  is  that  of  pred¬ 
ication  in  which  denominative  concepts  are  combined  into 

1  Romanes :  “Mental  Evolution  in  Man,”  Chap.  7,  p.  121.  (New 
York,  1898.) 

2 Ibid.,  pp.  157-162. 


442 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


propositions  in  such  a  way  that  the  content  of  one  concept  is 
affirmed  to  partake  of  the  nature  of  the  other  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree. 

The  stages  of  denomination  and  predication  so  clearly  indi¬ 
cate  a  higher  intellectual  development  than  appears  possible  to 
the  brutes,  that  some  psychologists  and  philologists,  upon  this 
ground  alone,  have  assumed  for  man  a  special  creation. 

The  power  of  articulate  language  as  a  means  of  mental  devel¬ 
opment  is  shown  when  the  word  is  used  as  a  symbol  or  type 
which,  while  it  is  constant  as  a  sign,  yet  is  sufficiently  movable 
to  admit  of  such  modifications  of  meaning  as  the  intention  or 
feeling  of  the  individual  may  dictate.  In  this  lies  the  real 
power  of  predicating,  or  of  attributing  varying  qualities,  or 
varying  shades  or  degrees  of  the  same  quality  to  an  object.  It 
is  the  power  to  use  one  idea  in  such  a  way  as  to  modify  the 
application  of  another  idea,  and  thus  to  form  a  new  mental 
product  the  apprehension  of  which  indicates  a  decided  advance 
in  intellectual  development.  When  an  individual  can  con¬ 
sciously  use  a  word  to  indicate  a  class  of  objects  possessing 
certain  essential  (as  distinguished  from  accidental)  characteris¬ 
tics  in  common,  he  has  achieved  the  foundation  for  the  highest 
mental  operations. 

The  importance  of  articulate  language  lies  in  the  fact  that 
without  the  word,  the  concept,  i.  e.,  the  generalization,  cannot 
be  held  before  the  attention  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  an  ele¬ 
ment  of  thought.  Without  it  no  effective  thinking  can  be  done, 
and  consequently  no  clear  rule  of  action  can  be  evolved.  It  is 
the  agent  that  differentiates  a  definite  idea,  or  concept  from  the 
confused  mass  which  characterizes  the  content  of  the  primitive 
mind.  Without  it,  the  mind  must  remain  primitive  and  con¬ 
fused. 

The  need  for  adaptation  to  the  conditions  of  a  progressive 
civilization  creates  the  necessity  for  classifying  the  mental  con¬ 
tent,  i.  e.t  for  evolving  order  and  clearness  from  obscur^  and 
confusion.  The  human  mind  in  its  incapability  to  grasp  in 
detail  the  multitudes  of  objects  that  are  daily  and  hourly  forced 
upon  the  attention,  is  saved  from  fruitless  and  even  dangerous 
effort  by  the  word  and  the  proposition  which  serve  as  a  means 
of  preserving  intellectual  unity. 

In  addition  to  the  use  of  the  word  in  controlling  abstract 
thought  upon  concrete  things,  we  find  a  higher  use,  by  reason 
of  the  concept  name  itself  becoming  an  object  of  thought,  thus 
furnishing  a  new  factor  in  the  elaboration  of  propositions  pos¬ 
sessing  a  higher  degree  of  abstraction  than  that  brought  about 
through  generalization  upon  concrete  objects. 

To  the  ordinary  individual  who  seldom  rises  to  the  region  of 
higher  abstractions,  the  influence  of  articulate  language  is  also 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


443 


of  the  utmost  importance.  Without  it  the  attention  does  not  rise 
above  the  primitive,  curious  attention  of  the  brute,  the  savage 
or  the  child.  Through  the  understanding  which  it  carries 
with  it,  it  rouses  the  liveliest  sympathy  among  people.  It 
standi  as  a  support  to  memory,  while  it  exercises  a  controlling, 
subduing,  and  directive  power  over  the  emotions. 

The  intelligent  development  of  language  implies  a  constant 
development  of  judgment  and  reason. 

In  the  formation  of  the  concept,  we  come  to  the  dividing  line 
between  the  perception  of  external,  or  concrete  things  (sense 
perception),  and  the  apprehension  of  internal,  or  abstract  rela¬ 
tions  (conception ,  — apperception  ) . 

Here  the  individual  is  first  conscious  of  himself,  and  becomes 
free  to  do  his  own  thinking.  The  extent  to  which  he  carries 
his  generalizations  (provided  always  that  he  classifies  on  the 
basis  of  common  essential  characteristics)  determines  the  ex¬ 
tent  of  his  freedom  and  of  his  effectiveness. 

Without  the  intelligent  use  of  articulate  language,  probably 
no  abstract  judgments  can  be  made;  no  consciousness  of  self, 
and  consequently  no  ethical  judgments  can  be  evolved. 

At  this  point  we  are  met  by  a  question  regarding  the  peda¬ 
gogical  application  of  the  theory  of  the  dependence  of  all  im¬ 
portant  forms  of  thought  upon  articulate  language. 

The  function  of  pedagogy  is  to  lay  the  foundation  for  devel¬ 
oping  later  a  broad  minded  thinking  people  whose  activities 
may  always  be  depended  upon  to  work  for  the  highest  good  of 
humanity. 

In  considering  the  relation  between  thought  and  language, 
we  have  regarded  the  beginning  of  real  intelligence,  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  rational  judgment,  the  beginning  of  generalization 
which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  reason  and  rational  action  as  coin¬ 
cident  with  the  use  of  the  articulated  word  naming  the  concept 
which  results  from  the  free  judgment  of  the  individual.  If  this 
proposition  be  accepted,  and  if  the  alleged  function  of  pedagogy 
be  regarded  as  legitimate,  then,  in  connection  with  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  children,  it  follows  that  from  the  very  beginning  of 
school  life,  the  development  of  intellectual  language,  i.  e.,  of 
the  connotative,  or  denominative  term,  and  the  proposition, 
should  receive  special  and  careful  attention. 

In  the  United  States,  the  teaching  of  language  is  difficult. 
If,  among  the  tongues  of  Babel  which  surround  it,  the  English 
language  retains  its  characteristics,  it  must  possess  marvellous 
vitality.  In  the  Northern  and  Western  States,  unless  it  be  pre¬ 
served  in  the  schools,  it  can  hardly  survive.  In  not  a  few  of 
the  higher  institutions  of  learning,  strenuous  efforts  are  being 
put  forth  in  its  behalf.  Many  professors  whose  time  might  be 
otherwise  employed  are  obliged  to  devote  no  small  portion  of 


444 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


their  time  and  energy  to  the  correction  of  the  very  imperfect 
language  which  the  students  bring  to  their  work;  a  language 
so  scanty  at  times,  that  instruction  in  other  subjects  can  hardly 
be  given  until  greater  facility  of  expression  in  English  is  ac¬ 
quired.  Yet  with  all  that  is  done,  we  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  condition  of  our  language  in  many  parts  of  the  country 
is  but  little  encouraging. 

A  few  years  ago,  a  prize  of  some  importance  that  for  years 
had  been  given  annually  for  a  paper  upon  a  literary  subject 
was  withdrawn  from  one  of  our  oldest  universities  for  the  reason 
that  among  eleven  hundred  undergraduates,  not  one  had  pre¬ 
sented  a  paper  worthy  of  consideration. 

East  year,  an  instructor  in  chemistry  in  a  large  American 
university  wrote:  “These  students  study  chemistry!  Why 
they  can’t  talk.  They  can’t  spell.  They  can’t  read.  They  can’t 
write.  ’  ’ 

In  a  recent  number  of  one  of  our  best  magazines,  a  writer 
mentions  the  fact  of  a  considerable  prize  being  offered  to  under¬ 
graduates  in  a  New  England  college  for  a  paper  upon  a  some¬ 
what  abstract  subject.  Only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  was  a 
production  obtained  that  would  justify  publication,  and  when 
it  appeared,  it  did  not  escape  censure. 

Within  the  last  few  weeks,  an  item  has  appeared  in  one  of 
our  best  daily  papers  to  the  effect  that  eight  young  men,  high 
school  graduates  from  a  Western  locality,  have  successively 
failed  in  the  examination  for  admission  to  West  Point,  and  that 
in  every  case  the  failure  was  in  common  English  subjects. 

As  a  further  indication  of  the  discouragement,  concerning 
our  schools  and  their  results,  which  seems  to  be  felt,  the  writer 
has  made  a  list  of  some  of  the  charges  which,  from  time  to 
time  during  the  last  few  years,  have  been  preferred  through 
magazine  and  newspaper  articles  against  the  students  who  enter 
the  colleges  and  universities  of  this  country.  The  charges 
collected  read  about  as  follows: 

1.  They  (the  students)  cannot  talk  except  in  a  jargon  of  their 
own  composed  of  words  that  have  no  general  application,  and 
are  therefore  intelligible  to  only  a  limited  number  of  people. 

2.  They  cannot  write  in  fairly  good  English.  The  words 
they  use  are  largely  the  names  of  material  things.  Many  young 
men  and  women  of  the  high  schools  who  present  themselves 
for  admission  to  normal  schools  and  colleges  are  not  capable 
of  writing  an  ordinarily  correct  letter  upon  any  subject  what¬ 
ever. 

3.  They  cannot  read.  In  attempting  to  read  aloud,  they 
display  an  amazing  unfamiliarity  with  the  printed  page.  They 
pronounce  words  very  incorrectly,  and  give  but  little  evidence 
that  they  understand  their  meanings.  In  attempting  to  read 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


445 


silently,  after  perusing  a  paragraph,  they  cannot  give  a  syn¬ 
opsis  of  the  thought  expressed.  They  not  infrequently  give 
evidence  of  knowing  each  word  in  a  sentence,  but  are  incapable 
of  giving  the  thought  expressed  by  those  words  when  they  are 
combined  in  the  sentence. 

They  display  a  marked  disinclination  to  use  a  dictionary. 
The  unfamiliarity  with  this  book  is  so  great  that  one  might  be 
justified  in  supposing  that  in  some  of  the  institutions  of  learn¬ 
ing  in  the  United  States,  dictionaries  have  not  yet  been  dis¬ 
covered. 

4.  They  take  little  or  no  interest  in  literature,  either  prose 
or  poetry. 

5.  They  show  little  or  no  interest  for  intellectual  pursuits; 
indeed,  they  awaken  to  genuine  intellectual  effort  only  with 
great  difficulty.  At  present  education  seems  to  be  crippled  in 
its  essential  idea  of  intellectual  life. 

6.  They  take  no  special  interest  in  public  questions. 

7.  They  know  little  and  care  less  about  social  questions. 

8.  In  the  educational  world,  enthusiasms  have  become  re¬ 
stricted,  and  are  very  difficult  to  arouse. 

9.  They  have  no  special  love  of  country.  The  fundamental 
principles  of  freedom  do  not  appeal  to  young  people;  indeed 
they  seem  to  be  losing  power  with  young  and  old. 

10.  Appeal  to  the  ethical  reason  is  made  only  with  diffi¬ 
culty.  There  is  a  substitution  of  sensuous  for  spiritual  appre¬ 
hension,  a  taking  of  events  at  short  range,  instead  of  contem¬ 
plating  them  in  those  wide  relations  in  which  they  compose  the 
universe.  They  cannot  be  said  to  realize  moral  responsibility 
in  any  adequate  sense,  and  they  show  a  lack  of  moral  indepen¬ 
dence  that  promises  unfavorably  for  the  formation  of  character. 

1 1 .  Such  interest  as  they  show  is  largely  in  connection  with 
concrete  things;  for  example,  with  the  subjects  of  the  labora¬ 
tory,  with  the  tactics  of  field  sports,  and  with  the  commercial 
advantages  that  may  result  from  an  extended  attendance  at 
some  higher  institution  of  learning. 

These  are  grave  charges  for  serious-minded  people  to  bring 
against  the  very  best  class  of  the  youth  of  this  country.  The 
writers  who  make  these  statements  are  not  prejudiced  for¬ 
eigners  who  might  take  pleasure  in  noting  the  weaknesses  of 
our  educational  influences,  but  they  are  people  who  love  the 
country  so  well  that  they  would  gladly  open  our  eyes  to  the 
conditions  under  which  we  are  at  present  living.  Even  grant¬ 
ing  that  these  evils  be  exaggerated,  they  are  still  sufficiently 
dangerous  to  cause  anxiety  on  the  part  of  thinking  people  who 
have  at  heart  the  best  interests  of  the  youth  not  only  of  the 
colleges  and  universities,  but,  also,  of  that  larger  class  who  lack 
opportunity  for  the  broader  development  afforded  by  our  higher 


446 


ASPECT  OE  EANGUAGE. 


institutions  of  learning.  No  doubt  more  serious  charges  could 
be  made,  and  indeed  are  made,  against  the  youth  and  manhood 
of  this  country,  both  within  and  without  the  colleges  and  uni¬ 
versities.  A  list  of  such  charges  of  weakness,  to  call  them  by 
no  harsher  name,  would  include:  heedlessness,  self-indulgence, 
lawlessness,  greed,  brutality,  sufficient  to  fill  the  mind  of  any 
ordinarily  thoughtful  person  with  the  liveliest  apprehension. 

Every  daily  newspaper  of  this  country,  every  day  of  the 
year,  publishes  events  that  show  unmistakably  that  these 
charges  are  well  founded.  Even  granting  that  only  one  tenth 
part  of  them  may  be  true,  the  conditions  are  still  sufficiently 
serious  to  excite  alarm. 

The  question  whether  the  schools  have  done,  are  doing,  or 
possibly  can  do  anything  to  influence  our  present  social  condi¬ 
tions  is  certainly  a  legitimate  one.  What  possible  connection 
can  exist  between  our  educational  conditions,  and  the  social 
difficulties  that  are  at  present  perplexing  the  wisest  men  of  the 
country  ? 

During  the  past  half  century,  a  great  change  has  taken  place 
in  the  public  school  education  of  the  United  States.  This 
change  has  affected  not  only  the  subjects  taught  in  the  schools, 
but  it  has  reached  as  well  the  plans  of  procedure,  the  so-called 
methods  of  instruction. 

About  the  year  i860,  “object  lessons”  so-called  were  intro¬ 
duced  into  the  schools.  Eater,  these  gave  place  to  “objective 
instruction,”  and  this  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  what  has  been 
known  as  “Elementary  Science  Teaching.”  Still  more  re¬ 
cently  the  schools  have  had  a  course  of  what  we  call  ‘  ‘Industrial 
Education.” 

The  principle,  “first  the  idea,  and  then  the  word”  so  vigor¬ 
ously  emphasized  by  Pestalozzi  has  dominated  the  educational 
effort  of  this  country  for  a  little  more  than  forty  years,  during 
which  time,  the  end  and  aim  of  school  life,  and  indeed  of  home 
life  as  well,  has  been  the  acquisition  of  concrete  images,  i.  e .,  of 
ideas  of  concrete  things.  Everything  that  could  appeal  to  the 
senses  of  the  child  has  been  presented  to  him.  Every  conceiv¬ 
able  object  has  been  subjected  to  sight,  hearing,  touch,  taste, 
smell,  etc.  When  the  objects  could  not  be  brought  into  the 
schoolroom,  the  children  have  been  taken  to  them,  so  that  but 
little  has  escaped  their  attention.  The  result  seems  to  be  that 
our  young  people  (if  not  also  our  adult  population)  have  be¬ 
come  addicted  to  things,  and  that  they  center  their  main  in¬ 
terests  and  hopes  of  happiness  upon  the  concrete  world. 

With  the  habit  of  occupation  with  concrete  things  for  some 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  the  most  impressionable  period  of 
life,  we  can  hardly  wonder  that  when  a  student  goes  to  college 
he  should  show  a  greater  disposition  to  occupy  himself  with 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


447 


material  things  than  with  abstract  questions.  We  can  hardly 
wonder  that  later  in  life,  the  actual  possession  of  a  certain 
amount  of  plain  hard  cash  should  seem  much  more  real,  and 
far  more  desirable  to  him  than  a  clear  intellectual  apprehension 
of  a  man’s  duties  as  a  citizen,  or  of  the  moral  distinction  be¬ 
tween  meum  and  tuum.  This  would  seem  to  be  the  logical 
outcome  of  excessive  occupation  with  concrete  things. 

We  can  have  no  quarrel  with  “objective  instruction”  per 
se,  nor  with  any  form  of  instruction  that  leaves  the  child  in  a 
better  condition  than  it  finds  him,  but  we  must  remember  that 
there  are  other  than  material  objects  in  a  course  of  education, 
and  it  may  be  well  to  examine  the  scope  of  objective  instruction 
as  it  is  sometimes  pursued  in  the  schools,  with  a  view  to  find¬ 
ing  out  whether  it  is  calculated  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
mental  development. 

In  the  first  place  the  material  object  appeals  to  the  senses, 
and  to  the  senses  alone.  The  psychical  result  of  this  appeal  is 
a  concrete  image  or  an  image  of  a  concrete  thing. 

According  to  the  previous  experience  of  the  child,  and  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  degree  of  attention  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
object  at  the  time  of  presentation,  this  image  is  more  or  less 
vague.  If  the  child  has  never  before  had  anything  like  it,  and 
if  the  attention  be  distracted  by  the  presence  of  other  striking 
objects,  the  chances  are  that  no  adequate  image  of  the  thing 
presented  is  formed. 

Also,  in  childhood,  the  nerves  of  sense  are  often  so  incom¬ 
pletely  developed,  that  the  sensations  formed  through  the  ex¬ 
citation  of  eye,  ear,  etc.,  are  totally  unlike  those  which  the 
teacher  expects  the  pupil  to  gain,  so  that  the  mental  product 
is  no  adequate  foundation  for  the  apprehension  of  other  images 
to  be  gained  through  the  presentation  of  other  objects.  In 
order  that  something  like  an  adequately  correct  image  may  be 
formed,  much  time  should  be  allowed  for  repeated  observations 
of  the  same  thing.  Otherwise  the  mental  content  must  be 
such  that  nothing  but  errors  can  result  from  its  use  in  thinking. 
Just  here  is  laid  the  foundation  for  that  incomplete,  inaccurate 
observation  which  Herbart  has  said  ‘  ‘  trains  only  dreamers  and 
fools.  ’  ’ 

Also  the  clearness  or  vagueness  of  the  image  may  be  largely 
determined  by  the  extent  and  kind  of  language  used  at  the 
time  of  presenting  the  object.  At  best  only  the  most  simple 
images  can  be  held  before  the  attention  without  the  use  of 
words,  and  then  but  for  a  short  time.  The  more  complicated 
images  depend  for  their  existence  upon  the  awakening  of  the 
intellect,  which  can  only  be  secured  through  the  use  of  lan¬ 
guage.  The  word,  merely  as  the  name  of  the  individual  image, 
is  not  sufficient  even  for  the  child  of  five  years  (perhaps  it  is 


448 


ASPECT  OF  EANGUAGE. 


not  sufficient  for  a  normal  child  beyond  three  years) .  Images 
classified  under  the  concept  name  can  be  held  before  the  at¬ 
tention  better,  and,  through  the  observation  of  their  common 
characteristics,  they  become  clearer  than  when  each  is  observed 
individually. 

The  evil  that  objective  instruction  was  intended  to  counter¬ 
act  was  the  acquisition  of  words  without  the  ideas  that  they 
were  intended  to  represent.  This  was  the  danger  of  learning 
books  verbatim,  as  was  largely  the  practice  in  the  early  history 
of  public  instruction.  The  stultifying  effects  of  this  process 
cannot  be  too  severely  condemned,  and  a  reaction  against  it 
was  inevitable.  The  dread  of  acquiring  words  without  ideas 
has  become  so  great  that  not  a  few  teachers  appear  to  be  dis¬ 
posed  to  dispense  with  words  altogether.  However,  since  it  is 
impossible  to  hold  many  ideas  without  words,  and  since  words 
are  indispensable  to  thinking,  the  last  state  of  the  children 
threatens  to  become  worse  than  the  first. 

It  is  quite  remarkable  to  find  how  few  complete  sentences, 
each  containing  subject,  predicate,  and  suitable  modifiers  are 
exchanged  between  the  ordinary  teacher  and  his  pupils.  Pre¬ 
sumably  in  every  school,  directions,  questions,  explanations, 
are  given,  yet  if  teachers  were  to  review  their  own  language, 
they  would  probably  be  astonished  to  find  how  few  sentences 
composed  of  well-chosen  words  they  speak  in  a  day.  Probably 
they  would  be  still  more  surprised  to  find  how  few  sentences, 
either  correct,  or  incorrect,  their  pupils  speak  in  a  day.  A 
sustained  conversation  between  teacher  and  pupils  is  very  un¬ 
usual,  frequently  an  unheard  of  thing.  Yet  it  is  only  in  con¬ 
versation  that  individuals  can  learn  to  talk.  A  normal  school 
student  of  more  than  twenty  years  stated  recently  that  she 
never  spoke  for  ten  minutes  uninterruptedly  in  her  life.  She 
thinks  that  she  never  talked  in  school  for  five  whole  minutes. 
She  never  conversed  with  her  teachers,  and  she  often  spent 
days  and  weeks  in  school  without  speaking  one  complete  sen¬ 
tence  during  recitations.  Many  a  day  she  never  recited  orally 
at  all.  This  is  perhaps  not  an  unfair  representation  of  the 
language  facilities  in  the  ordinary  public  school.  Questions 
that  are  asked  are  generally  elliptical  in  form,  often  they  are 
expressed  in  single  words,  while  the  answers  are  very  generally 
sent  back  by  the  children  in  single  words  or  phrases,  not  infre¬ 
quently  by  the  monosyllables  “yes”  and  “no.” 

Very  recently  the  writer  found  a  young  woman  who  went 
through  her  school  course  without  ever  reading  aloud  once, 
and  who  picked  up  such  reading  as  she  can  do  quite  by  chance. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  the  wordless  condition  of  the  ele¬ 
mentary  public  schools,  may  go  far  to  explain  the  lamentable 
poverty  of  language  on  the  part  of  high  school,  normal  school, 
and  college  students. 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


449 


In  some  schools,  teachers  may  be  found  who  express  them¬ 
selves  well,  but  who  seem  to  lack  the  power  to  secure  fluent 
expression  from  the  pupils.  They  seem  not  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  in  order  to  be  able  to  do  his  own  thinking,  a  pupil 
must  do  his  own  talking. 

Sometimes  it  is  urged  that  in  the  schools  the  training  in  the 
use  of  language  belongs  to  the  work  of  the  teacher  of  language. 
Even  here,  however,  the  language  is  often  about  as  limited  as 
it  is  in  the  recitation  in  arithmetic,  and  since  the  material  object 
has  also  made  its  way  into  the  language  lesson,  it  is  quite  as 
concrete. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  the  introduction  of  the  material 
object  into  the  language  lesson  is  largely  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  a  subject  concerning  which  the  pupils  may  write. 
Just  here  it  may  be  said  that  instruction  in  writing  seems 
to  be  quite  in  excess  of  instruction  in  talking  or  in  reading. 
The  effort  expended  in  this  connection  seems  to  be  out  of 
proportion  to  the  results  secured.  Generally  lack  of  power 
to  talk  connectedly  implies  lack  of  power  to  write.  In  both 
speaking  and  writing,  thought  is  required.  Children  waste 
quantities  of  ink  and  paper,  together  with  much  energy,  in 
trying  to  express  in  writing  what  they  have  never  had  an 
opportunity  to  think,  simply  because  they  have  had  no  practice 
in  using  words  to  form  concepts,  and  of  using  those  concepts 
in  oral  sentences.  If  half  the  time  which  is  spent  in  teaching 
pupils  the  art  of  written  composition  were  spent  in  training 
them  in  oral  expression,  the  results  of  the  other  half  spent  in 
writing  would  probably  be  vastly  more  valuable  than  they  are 
at  present. 

In  the  work  that  was  done  before  objective  instruction  was 
introduced  into  the  schools,  as  before  intimated,  the  children 
learned  books  by  rote  and  recited  them  to  the  teacher.  It  was 
a  chance  whether  the  text  was  understood  or  not.  Often  no 
apprehension  of  the  subject  was  gained.  For  the  pupil’s  de¬ 
velopment,  this  was,  of  course,  very  bad,  but  upon  the  whole 
no  worse  than  the  accumulation  of  vague,  fleeting,  disconnected 
images,  without,  in  many  cases,  words  either  to  name  or  to 
classify  them.  Confusion  and  obscurity  among  images  of  con¬ 
crete  objects  is  just  as  great  a  hindrance  to  mental  growth  and 
to  effective  action,  as  confusion  and  obscurity  among  words. 
As  to  the  rote-learning,  we  may  say  in  its  favor  that  the  children 
had  a  much  greater  opportunity  for  speaking  aloud  than  they 
have  in  objective  work.  The  sentences  were  well  constructed 
so  that  the  right  relation  of  subject  and  predicate  was  always 
secured.  A  copious  vocabulary  was  also  gained.  Another 
advantage  was  that  pupil’s  not  infrequently  studied  their  les¬ 
sons  aloud,  thereby  becoming  accustomed  to  the  sounds  of 


450 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


their  own  voices,  so  that  they  were  free  from  confusion  when 
required  to  speak.  There  is  at  least  a  probability  that  the 
habit  of  silence  during  school  hours  during  the  early  years, 
may  have  something  to  do  with  the  rigidity  of  the  lower  jaw 
which  is  so  marked  in  a  large  majority  of  students  when  they 
attempt  to  speak  connectedly  for  some  time,  or  when  they 
attempt  to  read  aloud.  Herbart  reports  that  Pestalozzi,  him¬ 
self  a  very  indistinct  speaker,  secured  very  fine  results  in  articu¬ 
lation  and  expression  on  the  part  of  his  pupils  by  simultaneous 
oral  recitation.  Indeed,  the  well-known  story  of  Pestalozzi’s 
celebrated  *  ‘  hole  in  the  paper,  ’  ’  furnishes  ample  grounds  for 
the  inference  that  whatever  the  Swiss  educator  may  have  done 
for  the  development  of  the  idea,  he  never  once  neglected  the 
training  in  language  necessary  for  the  formation  of  concepts. 

In  connection  with  the  study  of  objects,  one  great  difficulty 
is  that  not  infrequently  both  teacher  and  pupils  regard  the 
material  object  as  the  real  object  of  study,  instead  of  which  it 
should  be  treated  merely  as  a  means  by  which  the  truths  of 
the  subject  presented  are  to  be  illustrated.  Where  many  and 
varied  objects  are  presented,  this  misapprehension  appears  in¬ 
evitable.  The  results  are  to  be  seen  in  many  departments  of 
school  work.  Instead  of  knowing  botany,  many  of  our  students 
know  the  names  of  individual  plants,  and  can  enumerate  their 
specific  parts,  together  with  the  length,  thickness,  form,  and 
color  of  each  part.  Notwithstanding  the  study  of  objects  in 
both  botany  and  zoology,  it  is  not  impossible  to  find  high 
school  students  who  cannot  state  anything  approaching  an 
adequate  distinction  between  a  plant  and  an  animal.  Instead 
of  knowing  zoology,  the  pupils  know  the  hair  of  a  dog,  the  toes 
of  a  horse,  and  the  feathers  of  a  canary  bird.  They  have 
neither  the  concepts  nor  the  language  necessary  for  the  intelli¬ 
gent  statement  of  principles  or  rules. 

In  arithmetic,  illustrative  objects  are  numerous,  and,  as  in 
the  other  subjects,  are  continued  too  long.  After  the  age  of 
seven,  concrete  objects  are  probably  a  hindrance  to  the  appre¬ 
hension  of  this  subject.  Children  do  not  know  arithmetic. 
They  know  that  two  blocks  and  two  blocks  make  four  blocks, 
and  that  two  blocks  from  four  blocks  leave  two  blocks.  After 
the  objects  are  removed,  the  pupils  are  still  held  down  to  con¬ 
crete  things  by  the  substitution  of  denominate  numbers.  It  is 
not  impossible  to  find,  even  in  high  schools,  pupils  who  can 
neither  add,  subtract,  multiply,  nor  divide,  without  making 
most  amazing  blunders.  At  this  moment  the  writer  has  a 
vivid  memory  of  a  young  normal  school  teacher  (a  graduate  of 
both  high  school  and  normal  school)  weeping  bitterly  because 
she  could  not  find  the  dimensions  of  the  platform  in  her 
class  room,  her  principal  having  given  her  permission  to  cover 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


451 


it  if  she  would  tell  him  how  many  yards  of  carpeting  would  be 
required. 

As  to  algebra,  the  concrete  processes  of  adding,  subtracting, 
multiplying  and  dividing  may  be  fairly  well  understood,  but 
one  not  infrequently  finds  students  who  cannot  shorten  a  pro¬ 
cess  of  any  kind  by  applying  a  known  principle. 

Even  in  grammar  the  influence  of  the  inaccuracy  arising 
from  the  study  of  concrete  things  may  be  seen.  At  least  one 
high  school  pupil  described  an  abstract  noun  as  an  “object  not 
composed  of  matter,  but  yet  a  liquid,  for  example,  water.” 

The  complex  character  of  geography  seems  to  have  demanded 
for  its  elucidation  the  introduction  of  multitudinous  and  varied 
objects  into  the  schoolroom.  A  few  years  ago,  the  writer  at¬ 
tended  an  exhibit  of  things  to  be  used  in  teaching  geography. 
The  material  filled  two  large  rooms,  and  the  visiting  teachers 
were  cheered  by  the  information  that  the  supply  was  by  no 
means  complete.  And  yet,  the  knowledge  of  geography  as 
displayed  by  high  school  pupils  is  at  times  calculated  to  move 
one  to  tears.  Among  those  that  go  to  normal  schools,  some 
have  been  known  to  locate  London  and  Berlin  in  south  latitude. 
Others  have  ascribed  to  the  earth  two  motions,  viz. :  *  ‘  nota¬ 
tion  ’  ’  and  ‘  ‘  remuneration.  ’  ’  Some  have  never  heard  of  latitude 
or  longitude,  while  still  others  prove  themselves  quite  innocent 
of  any  knowledge  of  mathematical  geography  whatever.  A  few 
months  ago  a  letter  addressed  to  the  director  of  geography  in 
perhaps  one  of  the  best  training  schools  for  teachers  in  this 
country  brought  this  remarkable  information  :  “  We  do  noth¬ 
ing  whatever  with  mathematical  geography,  as  the  teachers 
themselves  know  no  more  about  it  than  the  children  do.” 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  material 
objects  presented  in  connection  with  the  study  of  geography 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  viz. :  natural,  and  artificial 
objects.  The  natural  objects  presented  are  not  infrequently 
entirely  aside  from  the  purpose  of  geography,  being  calculated 
rather  to  illustrate  truths  in  agriculture,  manufacture,  art,  etc., 
than  designed  to  make  geographical  principles  intelligible. 
One  writer  in  this  connection  presents  hints  for  a  study  in 
color,  which  he  admits  is  not  exactly  geography  but  defends 
his  presentation  by  asserting  that  color  is  a  very  interesting 
subject  anyway.  Much  of  the  material  suited,  perhaps,  to  the 
study  of  physics,  chemistry,  etc. ,  but  presented  in  geography, 
must  be  explained  on  the  same  principle.  Concrete  objects 
presented  in  this  manner  must  prevent  the  acquisition  of  geo¬ 
graphical  knowledge  no  matter  how  excellent  the  objects  in 
themselves  may  be.  Perhaps  even  a  greater  hindrance  lies,  how¬ 
ever,  in  the  presentation  of  artificial  objects  under  the  name 
of  apparatus;  as,  maps,  globes,  mouldings,  etc.  These  objects 


452 


ASPECT  OF  I, AN GU AGE. 


are  only  useful  when  employed  to  illustrate  a  truth,  and  having 
filled  their  purpose,  they  should  at  once  be  dispensed  with. 
After  the  illustration  has  been  made,  the  continued  use  of  the 
material  object  can  only  weaken  the  apprehension  of  the  ab¬ 
stract  truth,  and  must  result  in  the  thing  assuming  more  im¬ 
portance  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil  than  the  truth  which  we  wish 
him  to  grasp.  The  object  is  remembered  long  after  the  lesson 
is  forgotten.  As  an  illustration,  may  be  mentioned  an  incident 
of  a  number  of  normal  school  girls  of  about  sixteen  or  seven¬ 
teen  years  who  were  required  to  assist  in  laying  out  a  plan  of 
their  State  on  half  an  acre  of  land  in  the  school  grounds.  After 
an  hour’s  work,  one  day,  during  which  the  director  (an  experi¬ 
enced  and  skillful  civil  engineer  and  a  good  teacher)  had  given 
very  clear  illustrations  and  explanations,  the  girls  went  to  their 
class  room,  and  looked  at  a  sand  model  of  the  same  State. 
“Oh,  girls!”  exclaimed  one,  “How  much  more  satisfactory 
this  is  than  that  thing  out  of  doors!”  “Yes,  of  course!” 
answered  another,  “Because  it  is  so  much  more  like  the  real 
thing!”  “  What  is  the  real  thing,  Emma?”  asked  a  puzzled 
teacher  who  was  present.  “Why,  that!”  responded  Emma 
as  she  pointed  with  an  air  of  conviction  to  a  map  of  the  State 
which  hung  on  the  wall.  Further  conversation  revealed  the 
fact  that  all  the  girls  were  wondering  why  the  ‘  ‘  Professor  ’  ’ 
should  make  a  representation  of  the  map  out  on  the  grounds. 

The  globe  used  in  geography  very  easily  becomes  the  earth, 
and  may  greatly  hinder  the  apprehension  of  facts  concerning 
the  earth  itself. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  bright  school  boy  who  had  shown  him¬ 
self  remarkably  skillful  in  the  use  of  maps  and  globes;  when 
he  heard  a  gentleman  say  that  Russia  had  sent  fifty  thousand 
men  into  Germany,  he  asked  his  father  how  it  was  possible  for 
so  many  men  to  stand  upon  the  small  space  which  stood  for 
Germany  on  the  map  of  Europe.  This  very  well  illustrates 
the  distorted  mental  content  which  the  excessive  use  of  artifi¬ 
cial  objects  (or  indeed,  the  excessive  use  of  any  material  objects) , 
furnishes  as  a  mass  of  ideas  for  the  apperception  of  new  knowl¬ 
edge.  A  very  successful  teacher  of  geography  stated  that  she 
was  better  able  to  develop  the  necessary  ideas  in  the  minds  of 
her  pupils  by  means  of  carefully  chosen  words,  than  by  means 
of  any  concrete  material  that  she  could  find. 

In  connection  with  the  use  of  any  material  object  as  a  means 
of  illustration,  careful  and  adequate  language  on  the  part  of 
both  teacher  and  pupil  is  very  necessary.  The  lesson  is  not 
finished  until  the  language  of  the  child  convinces  the  teacher 
that  he  is  in  possession  of  the  concepts  which  the  lesson  was 
calculated  to  furnish. 

It  is  sometimes  urged  that,  if  sense-perception  be  exercised, 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


453 


and  if  concrete  images  be  formed,  later  in  life  the  pupils  will 
make  their  own  generalizations.  This  is  very  like,  and  quite 
as  futile  as  the  assertion  which  the  people  who  formerly  de¬ 
fended  rote-learning  were  in  the  habit  of  making,  viz. :  that 
if  the  pupils  learned  verbatim  the  author’s  generalizations 
when  young,  later  in  life  they  would  fit  their  experiences  to 
them,  and  thus  come  to  understand  them.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  latter  proposition  appears  to  be  the  more  valid  of  the 
two.  Students  who  have  had  years  of  school  life  do  not 
show  any  special  tendency  to  make  their  own  generalizations. 

When,  by  the  nature  of  the  subject,  abstract  language  is  re¬ 
quired  by  them,  they  construct  sentences  that  have  at  times  no 
signification  whatever,  or  else  they  say  the  very  opposite  of 
what  they  mean.  A  recent  graduate  being  interviewed  regard¬ 
ing  her  apprehension  of  a  definition  wrote:  “A  definition,  psy¬ 
chologically  speaking  is  an  optical  image.  ’  ’  When  asked  to 
examine  this  statement,  and  to  criticise  it,  after  some  reflec¬ 
tion,  she  declared  that  she  could  see  nothing  wrong  with  it. 
Still  another,  a  student  of  Ancient  History,  wrote:  “The 
Assyrians  became  so  powerful  that  they  compelled  another  na¬ 
tion  to  come  over  and  subdue  them.” 

A  third,  being  required  to  describe  the  “Salic  Law,”  wrote: 
“The  Salic  Law  was  no  woman  or  son  of  a  woman  could  oc¬ 
cupy  the  throne.” 

A  fourth  being  questioned  concerning  “Westminster  Abbey” 
wrote:  “Westminster  is  in  Montana,  Abbey  is  in  Africa.” 

These  amazing  statements,  delivered  with  an  innocence  and  a 
matter-of-course  manner  that  leaves  one  somewhat  dumb  with 
astonishment,  are  a  fair  indication  of  the  character  of  the  ordi¬ 
nary  expressions  of  these  young  people.  It  is  perhaps  no 
matter  for  wonder  that  such  students  should  show  little  or  no 
interest  in  abstract  questions,  or  in  the  reading  of  books  that 
present  subjects  in  the  smallest  degree  abstract.  It  is  perhaps 
not  too  much  to  .say  that  there  are  many  young  men  and  women 
students  twenty  years  of  age,  who  have  been  at  school  at  least 
from  ten  to  twelve  years  of  their  lives,  who  cannot  possibly 
carry  on  a  conversation  on  any  topic  beyond  the  every  day 
happenings  of  their  immediate  neighborhood,  and  of  these, 
they  cannot  give  a  listener  even  a  fairly  correct  idea.  When 
together,  with  no  older  persons  taking  part,  their  conversation 
presents  a  curiously  intermingled  mass  of  trivial  personalities, 
expressed  almost  entirely  in  concrete  terms,  relieved  and  orna¬ 
mented  by  slang  expressions  so  specialized  that  a  stranger  can¬ 
not  even  guess  their  meaning.  A  somewhat  appalling  thought 
in  this  connection  is  that  out  of  such  material  a  by  no  means 
small  portion  of  our  public  school  teachers  is  constructed. 

Since  Pestalozzi  worked  much  more  by  intuition  than  by 


454 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


rational  insight,  it  is  somwhat  difficult  to  determine  just  how 
far  he  apprehended  the  scope  and  the  significance  of  his  own 
procedure.  From  the  interpretation  which  Herbart  has  given 
of  his  work,  however,  we  believe  that  he  advocated  the  use  of 
objects  in  instruction  only  so  far  as  they  were  calculated  to 
secure  to  the  child  clear  images,  from  the  combination  of  whose 
common,  essential  characteristics  the  concept  might  be  evolved. 
The  denominative  term  and  the  proposition  was  the  ultimate 
aim  of  the  lesson. 

The  Pestalozzian  method  of  instruction  as  it  was  interpreted 
by  Professor  Hermann  Kriisi,  and  as  it  was  pursued  for  the 
first  thirty  years  at  the  Oswego  Normal  School,  objective  though 
it  was  in  character,  made  provision  at  the  close  of  every  lesson, 
or  series  of  lessons,  upon  a  subject,  for  generalizations  which 
put  the  pupil  in  possession  of  concepts  that  were  developed 
through  the  exercise  of  his  own  individual  comparison  and 
judgment.  The  development  of  “  perception,  reason,  judgment, 
conception,  memory,  and  language,”  constituted  the  object  or 
general  purpose  of  every  lesson,  and  no  recitation  was  consid¬ 
ered  a  success  until  this  purpose  was  achieved. 

As  time  has  gone  on,  the  tyranny  of  things  seen  has,  to  a 
large  extent,  excluded  things  not  seen  from  the  schoolroom. 
In  objective  work,  generalizations  appear  to  be  more  and  more 
neglected,  and,  except  in  a  casual  and  careless  way,  do  not 
occur.  Consequently,  the  intellectual  processes  beyond  mere 
primitive  attention  are  not  adequately  developed.  The  lack  of 
purposeful  connotation  implies  lack  of  concepts,  which  implies 
lack  of  power  to  think  except  in  the  crudest  fashion. 

As  in  Pestalozzi’s  practice,  so  in  Herbart’ s  theory,  we  find 
marked  and  ample  provision  made  for  the  development  of  con¬ 
cepts,  and  of  power  to  generalize.  In  the  “  Six  Interests  ”  and 
in  the  “  Four  Steps  of  Instruction,”  only  in  the  first  of  each  is 
occupation  with  concrete  things  implied.  The  speculative  and 
aesthetic  interests,  as  well  as  those  of  the  family,  society,  and 
religion,  all  involve  the  consideration  of  abstract  relations, 
while  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  steps  of  instruction  afford 
the  largest  opportunity  for  abstract  thinking,  and  for  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  intellectual  language.  It  is  doubtful,  however, 
whether  much  attention  is  paid  to  any  but  the  first  steps  of  the 
Herbartian  instruction.  Teachers  have,  in  many  cases,  not 
been  able  to  understand  the  importance  of  association  or  sys¬ 
tem,  or  even  of  application  in  their  work.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  first  step  is  only  of  real  value  in  proportion  to  the  work 
done  in  the  three  succeeding  steps.  The  time  spent  upon  the 
latter  part  of  the  lesson  is  of  the  greatest  possible  value  in 
saving  occupation  with  many  things.  Herbart,  himself,  warns 
teachers  against  mistaking  much  occupation  with  things  for 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


455 


much  understanding  of  principles.  He  asserted  that  with  only 
Homer’s  Iliad  as  material,  he  would  undertake  to  develop  the 
six  interests  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  the  foundation  for  a 
well-rounded  character. 

In  connection  with  the  use  of  material  objects  in  the  recita¬ 
tion,  are  two  conditions  which  may,  in  a  way,  explain  the 
limited  use  of  language  in  the  class  room.  The  first  is  that 
the  distribution  and  collection  of  material,  consumes  a  large 
portion  of  the  time  allotted  to  the  recitation.  The  second  is 
that  the  handling  of  many  different  things  appears  to  exert  an 
influence  which  is  unfavorable  to  connected  thinking.  As  the 
care  and  condition  of  the  material  is  the  concern  of  the  teacher, 
one  can  understand  that  she  may  be  so  fully  engaged  with  in¬ 
dividual  things  that  she  has  little  time  or  energy  left  for  the 
real  teaching  that  ought  to  accompany  the  presentation  of 
objects. 

A  teacher  of  some  experience,  with  young  teachers  in  train¬ 
ing  in  normal  schools,  states  that  young  students  who,  when 
they  first  entei;  school,  develop  considerable  enthusiasm  for 
abstract  studies,  after  they  have  been  in  the  practice  school  as 
teachers  for  ten  weeks,  upon  returning  to  the  normal  depart¬ 
ment  for  further  study,  display  a  marked  lack  of  interest  in 
abstract  work.  There  seems  to  be  an  apathy  and  a  difficulty 
in  becoming  interested  that  can  hardly  be  overcome.  Prin¬ 
ciples  are  not  understood,  apparently,  largely  because  these 
students  do  not  develop  sufficient  energy  to  apply  them.  This 
teacher  states:  “The  condition  is  not  exactly  indifference  and 
not  apathy.  Rather  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  complete  re¬ 
action  from  tension.  The  handling  daily  for  ten  w7eeks  of 
some  thousands  of  objects,  and  the  observations  of  their  obvious 
relations  so  disperses  the  attention  that  these  young  teachers 
seem  to  partially  lose  their  powers  of  concentration.  They 
can  be  appealed  to  only  through  the  senses,  and  then  not  for 
long  at  one  time.  Also,  they  seem  less  able  to  take  care  of 
themselves  during  study  hours,  and  are  frequently  complained 
of  for  lack  of  self-control.  They  talk  about  little  things  not 
worthy  of  expression.  The  students  who  have  done  only  the 
abstract  work  are  hailed  with  relief  by  both  departments, 
though  these  also  do  inferior  work  after  they  have  returned 
from  their  ten  weeks’  teaching. 

Some  idea  of  the  number  of  things  handled  during  a  single 
lesson  in  Art  may  be  gained  from  the  following  data  : 

For  a  class  of  40  pupils. 

1.  40  trial  papers, 

2.  40  other  papers, 

3.  40  bowls, 

4.  40  times  water  poured  (in  each  bowl), 


456 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


5.  40  paintboxes, 

6.  40  brushes, 

7.  40  specimens  from  which  to  paint. 

Total,  280  objects. 

This  number  of  objects  may  vary  slightly,  but  not  essentially. 
At  the  close  of  the  recitation  these  objects  are  to  be  collected 
and  put  away,  thus  making  necessary  the  handling  of  560  ob¬ 
jects  in  thirty  minutes.  Sometimes  the  teacher  employs  the 
children  to  aid  her  in  distributing  and  collecting  material,  but 
this  does  not  lessen  the  number  of  objects  handled.  It  only 
distributes  the  handling  among  more  people;  nor  does  it  lessen 
the  necessity  of  the  teacher’s  attending  to  the  individual  ob¬ 
jects,  both  in  getting  the  material  ready  and  in  putting  it  away. 

If  the  dispersion  of  attention  incident  to  handling  and  caring 
for  so  many  different  things  be  perceptible  in  a  teacher  of  ten 
weeks’  standing,  what  effect  must  it  have  on  a  teacher  who 
works  in  this  way  habitually  a  year  at  a  time  ? 

It  is  not  impossible  that  this  kind  of  work  might  go  far  to 
explain  the  apparent  intellectual  arrest  not  infrequently  observed 
in  teachers  who  have  exceeded  five  years  of  continuous  work 
in  the  primary  grades.  If  adequate  investigation  could  be 
made,  it  is  not  impossible  that  some  peculiarities  of  much  kin¬ 
dergarten  and  industrial  teaching  could  be  explained.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  concrete  details  do  seem  to  occupy  the  attention 
of  many  of  our  teachers  to  the  exclusion  of  abstract  questions. 
At  this  moment  we  have  in  mind  a  teacher  of  “  Decorative 
Art  ”  as  it  is  pursued  in  the  public  schools.  She  saw  the  ob¬ 
jects  in  a  landscape,  as  thejr  would  be  if  she  were  to  represent 
them  in  a  design  on  a  cardboard  of  eight  by  ten  inches.  When 
she  looked  at  a  sunset,  she  became  immediately  troubled  to 
know  what  proportions  of  several  paints  ought  to  be  put  to¬ 
gether  in  order  to  get  the  glow.  In  the  same  school  with  this 
teacher  was  another  who  told  the  pupils  of  her  class  that  the 
forms  of  nature  were  based  upon  the  Prang  models.  The  teach¬ 
ing  of  the  Prang  models  had  been  a  specialty  of  this  teacher’s 
for  some  time,  and  she  saw  signs  of  them  everywhere. 

It  is  a  question  whether  the  strongest  mind  can  long  with¬ 
stand  the  deteriorating  influence  of  constantly  pointing  out  the 
characteristics  of  concrete  things.  The  unsatisfying  nature  of 
such  work,  perhaps,  shows  itself  in  a  curious  restlessness  on 
the  part  of  many  of  our  teachers  who  seem  to  be  always  seek¬ 
ing  and  never  finding.  They  are  eager  for  improvement  and 
wander  hither  and  thither  to  clubs,  lectures,  associations,  etc., 
but  it  is  interesting  to  observe  the  excuses  which  they  will 
make  even  to  themselves,  to  avoid  sitting  down  to  write  a 
simple  paper,  or  to  do  an  hour’s  hard  reading. 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


457 


If  the  influence  of  individual  things  is  deteriorating  for  a 
teacher  who  has  some  power  of  resistance,  what  must  it  be  for 
children  who  cannot  escape  them  ? 

A  few  years  ago  the  writer  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  the 
condition  of  a  graded  school  of  five  hundred  children, — from 
the  kindergarten  through  the  last  grammar  grade.  In  the 
United  States  no  school  existed  that  had  for  so  many  years  been 
so  thoroughly  conducted  upon  the  principles  of  “objective” 
“  Elementary  Science,”  and  “  Industrial  Methods.”  Through 
a  change  of  principals  the  fact  was  discovered  that  the  school 
was  beyond  the  control  of  the  teachers.  Teachers  from  an  ad¬ 
vanced  department  came  into  the  lower  grades  to  aid  in  bring¬ 
ing  something  like  order  out  of  chaos.  The  children  of  the 
three  lowest  grades  were  in  much  better  condition  than  those 
who  had  been  longer  in  the  school.  In  the  grammar  grades 
were  pupils  long  past  the  age  for  admission  to  the  high  school. 
Year  alter  year  they  had  failed  in  their  examinations,  until 
finally  there  was  no  hope  of  their  ever  being  able  to  enter  the 
high  school.  The  restlessness,  excitability,  and  irritability 
of  the  whole  school  were  very  marked.  The  older  pupils  were 
noisy,  insolent,  and  ugly.  At  times  they  utterly  refused  to 
work.  The  reading  and  writing  throughout  the  school  were 
incredibly  poor,  while  the  work  in  arithmetic  was  below  that 
of  any  other  subject.  The  power  of  attention  was  extremely 
limited,  and,  if  a  persistent  attempt  to  hold  the  children  to 
work  were  made,  many  children  were  attacked  with  sudden 
and  violent  headaches.  Through  a  change  of  teachers,  a 
change  of  subjects,  and  a  change  of  procedure,  a  change  for 
the  better  was  effected,  and  an  outbreak  of  school  hysteria,  or 
at  least  chorea,  was  avoided.  The  cause  of  the  difficulty 
seemed  to  be  a  long  course  of  ill- digested,  or  wholly  undigested 
“  objective  instruction.” 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  resulting  from  constant 
occupation  with  material  things,  is  the  consumption  of  energy 
involved.  Any  person,  who,  at  any  time  in  his  life  has  been 
addicted  to  museums,  “Worlds’  Fairs,”  etc.,  will  remember 
how  soon  during  his  observation  of  objects,  fatigue  set  in,  and 
how  utterly  incapable  of  thinking  he  became  after  an  hour  or 
two.  Another  difficulty  is  the  mental  helplessness  of  the  per¬ 
son  who  is  addicted  to  things.  Within  himself  are  no  resources 
for  amusement  or  entertainment.  The  higher  pleasures  of  the 
imagination  are  denied  him.  He  is  constantly  looking  for 
some  new  physical  excitement.  This  constant  tendency  toward 
excitement  is  the  greatest  possible  hindrance  to  the  capacity  to 
learn  anything  that  requires  reason  and  reflection.  It  is,  per¬ 
haps,  not  too  much  to  say,  that  many  of  our  young  people  in 
their  pursuit  of  excitement,  exhaust  their  capacity  to  learn  at 


3 


458 


ASPECT  OF  LANGUAGE. 


a  very  early  age,  and  seem  to  acquire  a  permanent  nervous 
fatigue  which  may  be  the  reason  for  the  failure  of  such  a  large 
number  of  our  men  and  women  to  stand  a  strain  of  care  or 
trouble  even  in  early  manhood  and  womanhood. 

The  absence  of  the  life  of  the  imagination,  and  of  power  to 
think  seriously,  makes  a  great  void  in  the  life  of  the  individual. 
To-day  the  -world  is  full  of  wanderers  flitting  from  mountain  to 
seashore,  from  city  to  country,  from  island  to  mainland,  from 
California  to  Alaska,  India,  Egypt,  anywhere,  where  they 
may  see  or  hear  a  new  thing.  Social  life  is  full  of  concrete 
things;  flowers,  dresses,  foods,  play  a  large  part  in  entertain¬ 
ments  of  every  kind.  Theatres  are  overflowing  with  things 
rich,  showy,  noisy;  that  shall,  night  after  night,  minister  to 
the  senses  of  restless,  nervous  spectators  who  are  eagerly  de¬ 
manding  something  that  shall  excite  them  yet  a  little  longer. 

Occasionally,  during  the  past  five  years,  we  have  been  met 
by  an  anxious  question  as  to  whether  our  present  social  con¬ 
ditions  do,  or  do  not,  indicate  a  loss  of  civilization  and  a  proba¬ 
ble  reversion  to  savagery.  This  dark  prospect  is  certainly  not 
attractive.  Nor  is  it  probable.  No  nation  has  ever  yet  passed 
from  civilization  to  savagery;  but,  perhaps,  not  a  few  have 
fallen  into  a  worse  condition.  An  awakened  and  developed 
activity,  without  the  judgment  to  direct  it  to  desirable  and 
legitimate  ends,  must  always  be  more  destructive  than  an  ac¬ 
tivity  that  is  but  partially  awakened  and  is  still  undeveloped. 
With  the  latter  something  may  yet  be  done ;  for  the  former 
there  is  but  little  hope,  and  so  long  as  it  exists  there  is  danger. 

The  school  is  the  conventionalized  expression  of  the  social 
condition  of  the  country.  It  assumes  the  form  which  the  real 
or  supposed  social  need  indicates,  and  presumably  fits  the 
rising  generation  to  supply  that  need.  Just  now  the  social 
need  seems  to  point  towrard  the  possession  of  the  material 
world,  even  at  the  risk  of  losing  our  immortal  souls. 

It  is,  perhaps,  not  too  much  to  say  that  our  excessive  attention 
to  material  things,  both  in  the  school  and  in  the  world,  means 
restriction  to  the  language  of  material  things,  which  means 
a  loss  of  intellectual  language,  which  means  more  primitive 
and  more  limited  thinking  under  which  our  social  conditions 
must  deteriorate. 

The  remedy  for  existing  conditions  and  the  hope  of  preserv¬ 
ing  intellectual  unity  in  the  country,  would  seem  to  lie  in 
everywhere  subordinating  the  material  things  of  life  to  their 
earlier  and  legitimate  use,  viz.,  that  of  making  the  abstract 
comprehensible  to  the  end,  that  it  may  furnish  us  with  the 
highest  rules  of  action. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


' 


L. 


3  0112  059233228 


